Originally Posted by
Orion
I was at PHX waiting for my UA flight to IAD when the gate agent announced an oversold situation. I volunteered right away and was rejected by the gate agent who upon checking the computer said that my only alternative would be a hop to SFO and then a nonstop to IAD. I said I would take it. He said that United would not ticket a customer to go west to go east. He bumped somone who was willing to spend the night at PHX and travel the next day.
I do this a lot and the check-in agents often notice and say something about the supposed shadiness of doing this. I was told once that it could indicate that I was a security risk--that flight was MCO-SFO-DEN. Talk about BS!